Herts farmer raises concerns over record-breaking May weather
Fears are growing over the sustained impact of the dry and sunny weather throughout spring, leaving crops damaged
A Royston farmer has spoken out about the mounting challenges facing British agriculture off the back of extreme weather conditions this spring, particularly in May.
Robert Law, who farms at Thrift Farm just outside of Royston and serves as the county chairman for Hertfordshire at the National Farmers Union (NFU), shared his concerns over the impact of this year’s severe spring accumulation of record-breaking weather.
Mr Law said: "We went through an average type winter and really I think since the 26th of February we’ve only had 26 millimetres of rain here on the farm at Royston."
The last recorded rainfall on his farm predated this week's precipitation, nonetheless sustained over a long-enough period of time to reach a point of no return for much of this year's crops.
Normally, Mr Law explained, rainfall would be in the region of 50 to 60 millimetres per month.
With such a shortfall, crops have suffered significantly.
He said: "Some of the crops are really stressed out, they are struggling, some are coping better than others."
The most affected have been spring-sown crops including barley, wheat, and sugar beet.
Livestock operations are also being hit. Grass is browning off earlier than expected, prompting farms to sell animals ahead of schedule to ease the pressure on grazing land.
Adding to these weather-related difficulties is the uncertainty around proposed reforms to inheritance tax, which Mr Law said were introduced without prior dialogue with farmers.
The combination of poor growing conditions and financial uncertainty has halted investment in farm infrastructure.
Mr Law said: "Any plans for investments have all gone out of the window now.
"We’re not buying any new equipment, we’re not putting any buildings up because we don’t know what the future holds.”
The situation, he added, is not isolated to Hertfordshire, as farmers from Scotland to Wales or the south coast are said to share these concerns.